WEBSTER ON THE CURRENCY.

_..‘___...

s E E E 0 H

033‘

HON. DANIEL WEBSTER,

AT THE MERoE:ANTs= MEETING, INAWALLJETREET, NEW YORK,
ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1840.

REPORTED IN FULLBY ARTHUR J. STANSRURT.

NEW YORK:.

PUBLISHED BY E. FRENCH, No. 126 FULTON STREET.

ulna-auunuuud

1840.

Entereda.ccor'ding to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by
A A E. FRENCH,  
in the Clerk’a Oflice of‘ the District Court for the Southern District of New York.

SPEECH.

I am duly sensible, my fellow-citizens, both of the honor, and of
the responsibility, of the present occasion; an honor it certainly is,
to be requested to address a body of Merchants, such as I behold
before me, as intelligent, as enterprising and respectable as any in
the world. A responsible undertaking it is, to address such an
assembly, and on a subject which many of you understand scienti-
fically, and in its elements at least as well asl do, and with which most
of you have more or less of practical acliquaintanice. The currency
of a country is a subject always important, and in some measure
complex 5 but it has become the great leading question of our time.
I have not shrunk from the expression of my opinions, since I have
been in public life, nor shall I now, especially since on this question,
another great political question seems likely to turn, viz. the
question whether one Administration is about to go out of power,
and another Administration to come into power. Under this state
of circumstances, it becomes me to premise what I have now to say,
by remarking, in the first place, that I‘ propose to speak for nobody
but myself. My general opinions on the subject of the currency
have been well known 5 and as it has now become highly probable
that those who have opposed all that has recently been done by the
government on that subject, will be called on to propose some reme-
dies of their own for the existing state of things, it is the more incum-
bent on me to notify to all who hear me, that what I now say, I say for
myself alone; for, in regard to the sentiments of the distinguished
individual whom it is your purpose to support as a candidate for the
Presidency,I have no more authority to speak than any of your-
selves, nor any means of knowing his opinions more than is pos
sessed by you, and by all the country.

I will, in the first place, state a few general propositions, which I be-
lieve to be founded on true principles of good, practical political econ»

omy, as understood in their application to the condition of a country
like ours.

43

And, first; I hold the opinion, that a mixed currency, com.
posed partly of gold and silver, and partly of good paper, re-
deemable, and steadily redeemed in specie, on demand, is the most use-
ful and convenient for such a country as that we inhabit, and is sure
to continue to be used, to a greater or less extent, in these United
States; the idea of an exclusive metallic currency being either the
mere fancy of theorists, or, what is probably more true, being employ-
ed as a means of popular delusion.

I believe, in the next place, that the management of a mixed cur-
rency, such as I have mentioned, has its difficulties, and requires con-
siderable skill and care 3 and this position is as true, in respect to
England, the greatest commercial country of Europe, as it is of the
United States. I believe, further, that there is danger of expan-
sion and of contraction, both sudden in their recurrence, in the use
of such a currency-—-yet I believe, that where a currency altogether
metallic exists,‘ as it does in Cuba, and in other countries where
metallic coin is most in use, as in France, there are fluctuations in
prices, there are disasters and commercial failures, occurring per»
haps nearly as often, and perhaps as bad in their character, as in
countries where a well regulated paper currency exists.

In the next place, I hold that the regulation of the currency, whe-
ther metallic or paper--—that a just and safe supervision over that
which virtually performs the office of money, and constitutes the
medium of exchange, whatever it may be-—--necessarily pertains to
government—-that it is one of the necessary and indispensable pre-
rogatives of government.

Every Bank, as Banks are now constituted in this country, per-

forms two distinct offices or functions: first, it discounts Bills and,
Notes. This is a mere matter of the lending of money, and may be

performed by corporations, or by individuals, by banks without
circulation, acting as banks of discount merely, (although, in this
country, our banks are all banks of circulation, issuing paper with an
express view to circulation§.),r'W~hen such a bank discounts notes, it pays
the amount of discount  itssiibtvn bills, and thereby adds so much to the
actual amount of circulation, every such operation being, by so much,
an increase of the circulating medium of the country. Hence it is

true, thatin the absence of all government control and supervision,

the wisdom and discretion regulating the amount of money afloat at
any time in the community, is but the aggregate of the wisdom and
discretion of all the banks collectively considered 5 each individual

bank acting from thepromptings of its own interest, without concert

with otlters,rand not from any sense of public duty. In my judgment
such! a regulator, or such a mode of regulating the currency, and of
deciding‘ what shall be the amountrof money at any time existing in
the community,_is unsafe and untrustworthy, and is one to which we

5

never can look to guard us against these excessive expansions and
contractions, which have been the source of such injurious consequen»
ces.---Hence arises my view of the duty of Government, to takethe
care and control of the issues of these local institutions, andthereby to
guard the community against the evils of an «excessive circulation.
I am of opinion, that the government may establish such a control and
supervision as shall accomplish these purposes in two ways; and first,
by restraining the issues of the local banks. You all know, and from
experience, perfectly well, that a general institution for the circulation
of a currency, which shall be as good in one part of the country as in
another, if it shall possess a competent capital, and shall be empowered
to act as the fiscal agent of the government, is capable of controlling
excessive issues, and keeping the bank. paper in circulation in a com-
munity within reasonable limits. Such an institution acts beneficially,
too, by supplying a currency which is of generalcredit, and uni»-
form in value throughout the country.

 This brings r us to the point---what we need, and what we must
have, is some currency, which shall be equally acceptable in the Gulf
of Mexico, in the Valley of the Mississippi, on the Canada frontier,

on the Atlantic Ocean, and in every town, village, and hamlet of our
extended land. (Loud cheering.) The question is, how to get this ?*

Now it seems tome that that question isto be answered by a plain
reference to the condition of the country, to the form of its govern«
ment, and to the objects for which the general government was
constituted. Why is it that no state bank paper, however secure, un-
der institutions however respectable, in cities however wealthy, and
with acapital however ample, has ever succeeded, but has uniformly
failed to give a national character to the currency! The cause of
this is obvious. We live under a government which makes us, in
many important respects, one people, and which does this, and was
intended to do it, especially, in whatever relates to the commerce of
the country. Yet the nation exists in twenty-six distinct and sov-
ereign states, extending over a space as wide almost as the greatest
empires of Europe. In this state of things every man knows, and is
bound to know, two governrnents 3 first, the government of his own
state. If that state has established banks, he knows, and is bound to
know, on what principles thesebanks have been established, whether
they are safe, as objects of credit, and whether the laws of their adminis-
tration are wise. Generally speaking, these state institutions——--I refer
now more particularly to those in the central, and in the northern and
eastern sections of the Union, because with these Iambest acquainted
-—-enjoy the confidence of’ the people of the several states where they
exist. Their issues are in general well received, not only in the
states where the banks are established, but frequently also in the
neighboring, states.---Every citizen is also bound, in like manner, to

Q.

know the laws of the general government, the security of the in--A
stitutions it has founded, and their general character; and since this:
is a national subject, over which the general government acts as-
such, he regards its acts and provisions as of a national character...
Every man looks to institutions founded by Congress, as emanating
from the national government, a government which he knows, and

which, to a certain extent, he himself influences,by the ‘exercise of

the elective franchise, and in which it is his duty, as a good citizen,
to correct, so far as in his power, whatever rnaybe amiss. Y He has con-
fidence, therefore, in the national government, andin the institutions
it sanctions, as in something of his own; but the case is very differ-
ent when he is called to take the paper of banks chartered by a dis-
tantstate, over which he hasno ‘control-——respecting which he has
little personal knowledge, and of whose institutions he knows not
whether they are well or ill-founded, or well or ill administered. ‘

In exemplificati-on of this, if you take a note of one of the

best banks‘”ini the city of New York, rich as this city is, and
place upon it forty indorsements of the most substantial mercantile‘
houses, and then carry that note to the frontier, and read it to the
people there, such is the nature of man, and such is his habit of look-
ing to the nation for that medium which is to circulate through the‘
nation, that you cannot get that New York note, with all its indorse-'
ments, to circulate there as national money. Can I give astronger
proof of the truth of this assertion than is found in a fact which yon
all know ’! Your city banks pay specie : the banks of Philadelphia
and the Bank of the United States do not pay specie, and their paper is-
consequently at a discount here of three, and I believe of five per
cent. But how is it on the frontier’! liundertake to say that you
may go to Arkansas, or Missouri, with a note of the specie ‘paying
banks of New York, and with another of the non-specie paying‘
Bank of the United States, and the latter shall be preferred. And
why '7.» because it is in the name" of its national predecessor. There
is an odour of nationality, which hangs around it,“and clings to it, and-3
is long in being separated from it. (Loud cheering.) ’

In the next place, my opinion is, that a currency emanating partly
from a national authority as broad in its origin as the whole; country,..
and partly from local banks organized as our banks new are, and issu-»
ing paper for local circulation, is a better currency for the whole:
People than ever before existed in the world. Each ‘of these classes»
of institutions, and each of these kinds of currency, has its own
proper use and value. I affirm that the banking institutions of New
York and of New ‘England, are organized on better principles than:
the Joint Stock Companies of Great Britain 5., andl hold that we are
comp,etelnt,,_with a tolerable intellect, and with anjhonest purpose, to
establish a_National institutliotn, tiwhich ‘shall act with less fluctuatiom
than is experienced in England under the Bank of England,

7

Now, gentlemen, I do not at all mean to say, that there, is only
«one mode, or two modes, of accomplishing this great national ob-
ject. I do not say, that a National Bank is the only means to efl"ect
it; but in my judgment, it is indisputably true, that the currency
should, in some degree, or in some portion of it, be nationalized ‘ in
its character. This is indispensable to the great ends of circulation
and of business in these United States. , p p   A ,

But I shall be asked, (and it is a pertinent question,) if there is to
he a N ationalplnistitution, or if We are in any form to have National
issues of bank paper, what security is there, or is there any secu-
rity, that these National Institutions shall not run td an excess in
their issues of paper’! Who is to guard the guardian’! Who is to
watch the sentinel’! The last twenty years have been fruitful in ex-
perience on this subject, both in the United States and in England.
Inthat time thpeworld has learnt much. I may say that we have
learnt much giffor our ownppexperience has been our instructor 5 and I
"think that there arernodes by whicli banking institutions may be so
far restric,ted_ as to give use reasonable security against excessive
issues. , ywp , up ,, ,p,p , h 4%“ .

, From whatever source these institutions may emanate, tl16.‘»»fi.1'St‘
securitypyis to be found in entire publicity, asito theamount of paper
afloat» hero is more in this than iss;ometim.es suppos.ed. It should
be known to the whole community; from day to day, what is the actual.
amountyof paper in «circulation. When prices rise or fall, a mer-
‘chant has an. .rfi..gl1i : to knovvt, whether the change of price springs from
change ,in....demand, or merely from.changein.the amount of money
in circulation; and,.tl1ereifm:e,thefirst duty of abanking institution
is, to ..malte-it.iuniversal1y. known, by a daily or a weekly tpublircation,
Whatp, alrlounttof paper it has out- See what. benefitstwouldiairise
from such an .arrangement,. and that in a ..th.ousand ways. vlfuthe
bank. should thus. rnake ..itsissues' public, those who it c.orrtr.ol «its af-i
fairs would be bound to respect public opinion, and the bank, while
it :controlled what. is underit, would itself be controlled by some-
~‘l2lIl.«lng.‘@1lJOVTB it; and thus public opinion would be brought to regu-p
late.the.,Re1gu1ator,and towatch. the sentinel.  r  i it  ,  

. ..Then,;again,_iif th-eiGovernment7 should act in this matter, what it
does should trather bedone in referencelto the function of issue, in
such an institution, than with a view to make it a money-getting
vconcern; anduthat no temptation should lead. the Bank to excess,
there ought to be a limit to the extent of itsDividends: allreceipts
for discourmbeyond that point, not going into the private crib, but
‘into the public treasury. (Cheering?--and astrong expression of ap-
probation.) , Then there is anothererror, which has been common
withelthe Bank of England. elf, you look at the monthly accounts
‘whichfit has published of its affairs, it will at once appear, that its

S
Directors‘ seemed to have judged of the condition of the institutions
by the amount of its circulation, compared with its assets, including
securities, as well as bullion. They look chiefly to the amount
payable, and the amount receivable. As a mere lender of money,
this is all very well; but if the Bankis to act in regulating the circu.»
lation, it is an incorrect mode of stating the account: but, admitting the
object to be to keep its paper redeemable, and to exercise a general
regulation, the true point of examination would be to see what pro-
portion exists between the outstanding paper, and the in-lying Bul-
lion. The Bank may be very rich, but she mayrexpect her resources
from the payment of the securities she holds. This may be all very
well, as a means to show that she is solvent, but it is not the inquiry
that belongs to her, as the source and preserver of a sound circulat-
ing medium.

I know very well that there are objections to the fixing of a positive
limit for circulation. But until such limit can safely be dispensed with, it
may be bestto make it positive. When an institution has acquired gene-
ral confidence, and there is no danger of a sudden and extensive panic
in relation to it, it is in the power of such an institution, in case local
panics should occur, to relieve the community, by that vibration in the
amount of outstanding circulation, which discreet men may be trusted to
regulate. Still I am of opinion, that there ought to be a fixed limit from
which the Bank should never depart.

Now, Ihave not said, nor do I mean to say, that one or the other mode
of accomplishing this great and desirable object is indispensable, but I af-
firm, that in his communication to Congress vetoing the Bill to renew the
charter of the United States Bank, President Jackson did say, that if he
were applied to, he could furnish a plan for a United States Bank, which
would be adequate to all the purposes of such an institution, and should yet be

constitutional. Therefore, the thing is practicable, provided we, of this

generation, can accomplish that which President Jackson said he could
accomplish. (Loud laughter and cheers.)

Now, gentlemen, I have only stated what I receive as general princi-
ples, which the experience of theworld has established on the subject of
currency and a paper currency. But all we can say is, that it seems the
existing Administration will do nothing of all this, which I have stated
as necessary to be done. They have done nothing to nationalize the
currency in any degree; and so long as the government holds to that
determination, there never will be in this country a currency of uniform
value. That, brings me to this inquiry. Is the Administration settled

 on the ground it has repeatedly avowed, and has for three years adhered

to in practice, never to give us this uniform currency? That is the
question. A, The Administration will not go back to the policy sanctioned
  of prosperity. It will not trust the State Banks. It will do
Ilothil   Will» do nothing on principle :, for M1‘. Van Buren holds, that

 

‘9

the Constitutionl gives “Congress no power to do anything in the inatterg
Now, I said at the time this assertion was uttered, and I still say, that I
am hardly able to express the astonishment I feel at what would seem:
the presumptuousness of such a position: because, from the very cradle
of the government, from the very commencement of its existence, those
men who made the Constitution, who recommended it to the People, who
procured. its adoption, and who then undertook its administration, all ap-
proved that policy which is thus pronounced unconstitutional. ‘ It was fol-.
lowed for forty years by every Congress, andby every President, and its
constitutionality was aflirmed and sanctioned by the highest judicial
tribunals. And yet here a gentleman stands up, at half a century’s dis-
tance, and disregarding all this legislative,-——-executive and judicial
authority, says, “I am wiser than all of them, and I aver there is no
such power in the Constitution.”

The President says, “the People have decided this :” but where did
they so decide, and when’! Why, he says, that General Jackson dc-.
olared the Bank to be unconstitutional, and then the People re-elected him:
but I have told you what General Jackson did declare. He said that a
National Bank might be established, which would not be unconstitutional:
althouglr he held the particular Bank. then in existence to be against the
Constitution. , N ow, if the Peoplezre-elected him after this declaration,
why is it not just as fair to infer that they did so beclause ‘he uttered this
opinion, because he said that there might be a National Bank, and the
Constitution still be preserved inviolate? No, gentlemen, the truth is,
that General Jackson was re—elected, not because he vetoed the Bank of
the United States, but notwithstanding‘ he vetoed it. (Cheers) It was
the general popularity of General Jackson, and that paramount ascen-
dency by which. he ruled the Party that placed him in power, and made
it bend and bow to his own pleasure, that carried him again into office.
To say that the constitutional power of creating a National Bank, and
regulating the national currency, was repudiated by the People, is a
glaring instance of false reasoning and false philosophy. Nay, the Pre-
sident goes further, and says, he was himself against the Bank, and the
People elected him too for that reason.--(loud laughter.) I do not say
what actuated the People in his election; but this I will say, that if
any man ever came into office by virtue, and under power of will and
testament, it is that same gentleman.—-—(cheers.) I insist that no evidence
can be produced that the American People have ever repudiated the doc-
trines of Washington, andacondemned and rejected the decisions Of their
own highest Judicial Tribunals. I  I 

I Now we mustwdecide on these questions as men having a deep per-
sonal interest in them. Do you go to authority ? do you appeal to
Madison? You may quote Mr. lVIadison’s opinion from morning till noon,

andlfrom noon to night on the longest day in summer, and you cannot

get from the friends of the Administration one particle of answer.
2 .

l:'0’

have again and again read in my place in the Senate, Mr. Madi"son’s.=-‘

doctrine, that it is the duty of Government to establish a National Cur-

t rency. I have shown that Mr. Madison urges this, with the utmost

earnestness and solemnity. They say nothing against it, save that l\/Ir...
Van Buren, having expressed a different opinion, got in at the last elec»
tion. (Loud laughter and cheering.)

N ow when the National Bank was destroyed, or rather‘ when its
charter expired, and was not renewed, in consequence of the Execu»

A tive Veto, what followed "E I say that the government then put the-

entire business of this country,. its commercial, its manufacturing,
its shipping interest, its fisheries----in a word, all that the people pos-
.sessed,. on the tenterhooks of experiment 5. it put to the stretch every
interest of the nation; it held them up, and tried curious devices
upon them, just as if the institutions of our country were things not
to be cherished and fostered with the most solicitous anxiety and
care, but matters for political philosophers to try experiments upon.
I need not remind. you that General Jackson said he could give the
country a better currency——that he took the national treasure from
where it had been deposited by Congress, to place it in the State
Banks, and that Congress, by subsequent legislation, legalized the
transfer, under the assurance that it would work well for the coun-
try. Yet I may be permitted to remind you, that there were some
of us, who, from the first, declared that these State Banks never could
perform the duties of a national institution; that the functions of
such an institution were beyond their scope, without the range of
their powers 5 that they were, after all, but small arms, and not artil-
lery, and could not reach an object so distant. The State Bank system:
exploded; but the Adrninistration did not expect it to explode. At
that day, they no more looked to the Sub-Treasury scheme, than
they looked for an eclipse, (and they did not then expect an eclipse
half as much as they do just now.) [Laughter and cheers.] When
the U. S. Bank was overthrown, they turned, as the next expedient,.
to the State institutions 5, and they had full confidence in them, for
confidence is a quality in which experirnienters are seldom found
wanting, but the expedient failed--«the banks exploded; and what
then '2. p l t *
.Why, in the speech ‘delivered in this place,.by one of the ablest
advocates of the measures of the Administration, Mr. Wright said,
“what could you expect’! what could Mr. Van Buren do’! a He could

not adopt a national bank, because he had declared himself opposed

to it. c He could not rely on the state banks, for they hadcrurnbled
so pieces. What then could he do, but recommended the Sub-Trea-
scurry ll  What does this show,Ibut that the gove:irnment,i as I have
  hadtadpepartetd from the principles of the apptrovedtpolicy of forty
yearsWi7.;5national prosperity,, and had put itself? in such a situation that

 

ii

it could not aid the countryin any way’! Mr. Van Buren -would not
retract his opinion against the bank, (although he could retract his

opinion against the State Bank Deposit System, fast enough,) buthe _
would not retract the position he had taken against the national banlgsr
The state banks had failed him; and he was driven, as his only refuge,‘ ‘

to the suggestion of withdrawing all care over the national currency
from the national government, and confining the solicitude of Govern-
ment to itself alone. But how far did he carry this doctrine ‘E Look at
the draft of the first Sub-treasury bill. Does it contain a specie clause ’!
No such thing! It is a mere regulator of the revenue on the principles
of the Resolution of 1816. But what happened next 1. This Bill was
like to fail in the Senate for want of votes.——-There was a certain
division in that body, at the head of which stood Mr. Calhoun, whose
aid was indispensable to carry the measure, but who would not vote
for it, unless the hard money clause should be inserted. It was in-
sertedi accordingly: and then the friends of the Administration, for
the first time, shouted in all quarters, "‘ Hard Money !"’ “Hard Mo-
ney !” “Hard Money !” (Loud Laughter.)

By this hard necessity, the Administration was driven to a measure
which it had no more expected than you expect to see your houses
on fire to-night. Butsuch are the expedients, the miserable expe-
dients of a baffled and despairing Administration, on which they
have thrown themselves as a last resort, always hoping, and always
deceived, and plunging deeper and deeper at every new effort.
(Loud and prolonged cheering.)

I have said, and it may be proper enough, and involve no great
self?-complacency to say it, that there were some of us who never

ceased to warn the government and the nation, that the deposit

system must explode, as it has exploded. But what was our re»

ward’! What was.the boon conferred upon us, for thus a apprising.

the administration of its danger! H We were denounced as en~ernies
to state banks, as opposed to state institutions, as anti-state-rights
rnen, whom nothing would satisfy, but the spectacle of a great na-
tional institution, riding over and treading down the institutions of
the states. H H . be p ' i

But what happened '2‘ The whole State Bank experiment, as I have
said, utterly failed; and what did gentlemen of the administration do
then 1 They instantly turned about, and with the utmost outrage of
remark, reviled the banks which their experiment had crushed. They
were vile, corrupt, faithless, treacherous iinstitutions, leagued from the
very beginning with the opposition, and not much better than British
"Whigs! (Laughter...) And when we, who had opposed the placing of
the national treasure in these banks, declared that they had failed

«only ‘because they were applied to ‘a purpose for which they never,

werecalculated, and had perished in consequence of a rash and 

152
wise experiment, we were instantly told, “you are Bank Aristocrats;
you are leagued with a thousand corrupt banks, and are seeking by
the power of British Gold to destroy the purest Administration that
ever breathed the air of Heaven!” Thus, when we said that State
Banks, though good for some purposes, were not good as a substitute
fora National Bank, then we were denounced as the enemies of"
banks; but when we wished to shield these same banks from misap-
plied censure, and protect them from being totally destroyed by
acts of bankruptcy, then we were reviled as “ Bank Aristocrats.”

Now I ask you, gentlemen, as Merchants, what confidence
can you place in such an administration? Do you see any
thing that they are disposed to do to restore the times you once
enjoyed.--—-(Grroans, and loud cries of “No,” “ N03’) I perceive that
your opinion corresponds with my own, and that you cannot lend
your support to men who turn their backs on the experience, the in-
terests, and the institutions of their country, and who openly declare
that they will not exercise the powers which have been conferred
on them for the public good. (Cheers)

Now,'gentlernen, [will observe to you further, that it appears to
me, that this Administration has treated the States in reference to
their own afiiairs just as it has treated’ the state banks. It has first
involved them in the evils of" extravagance, (if any extravagance ex"
ists,) and has then abused them for the very thing to which its own
course has strongly invited them. Commencing with the Messages
of Mr. Van Buren himself, and then looking at the reports of his Sec-
retaries, and the resolutions and speeches of Mr. Benton and Mr. Grun-
d.y,in theSenate, and at the outcry of the whole Administration
press, there appears to be a systematic attempt t.o depress the cha-
racter and credit of the States. It is everywhere said, that “ the
States have been rash and extravagant 5” “ the States will yet have
to repent of their railroads and canals, and projects of internal im..
provements.” This is the burthen of the President’s Message, of"
the reports of his secretaries, and the resolutions of his friends.
Now I solemnly ask, is not the tendency of such a course of rnea-~
sures virtually to affect the credit of the States that have out-‘stand-
ing bonds and obligations in the market’! , i

a Let us look into this matter a little. Let us see under what cir-.'
cumstancesxitpwas that the States were induced to contractthese“
large , debts which now embarrass them. And here let me call your‘
attention to a few facts, dates, and figures. And first, I now here
to-;day,..in your presence, charge upon the Administration of the
GleneralGovernment.those great expansions of paperrnoney, and
s'udden con;tractions,.both.of which have so derangeed your affairs.
 togprove the charge; and withthat viewnow proceed to

-cw

.13

lay before you facts, a.nddates,=-andtransactions, which must carry
conviction to every honest and candid mind. i . 3" A,

Let us go back to the year 1832, when it- was perfectly settled by
the veto of «President -. Jackson, that the Bank of the United States
would not be rechartered. Suppose ,we\take a series of years by
tens, and trace the history of the creation of State Banks in
this country. From 1820 to 1830, a period of ten years, there
were created in the United States twenty-two new banks, and their
creation added to the banking ‘capital of the countryrbut eight mil-
lions of dollars. During this period, the Bank of the United States
was in full operation, and nobody entertaineda doubt but that it
would be continued. How was it in the next ten years! From 1830
to 1840, the increase of banks, instead of twenty-two, as in the preced-
ing ten years, was three hundred and forty-eight‘; and the increase
of banking capital, instead of eight millions. amounted to two l1un-
dred and sixty-eight millions. Such has been the progress of bank
expansion during the charming, the successful years of the experi-
ment. But further; not only was there‘ this great augmentation in
the number, and in the capital, of the banks, but the extraordinary
proceeding followed of the removal of the deposits in 1833. In con-
sequence of this, it was by the Government declared to be the duty
of all its deposit banks to lend the public money freely‘ to thecom-
rnercial community. The Secretary of the Treasury, in his circu-
lar, issued, I think, in September, 1833, told these institutions ex-
pressly, that it was their duty to discount freely, and laid it down as
a maxim, that the money of the Government, between the periods of
its collection and disbursement, ought to be at the use of the com-
munity. I remember, indeed, to have heard it said by the cashier
of one of the banks in this street, that “he hardly knewwhat to
do, for he was ordered to lend more of the public moneythan he
could get security for.” [Laughter.] It is from this increase of
banks, and this increase of issues, and from that alone, that the ex-
pansion so injurious to the country reallyrsprang. ,

I know‘ it may be said that there were expansions and contractions
during the existence of the Bank of the United States. This I do not
deny. The administration of that institution, I admit, was not always
perfect 5 but I say, taking the whole period, of near half a century,
during the existence of such a bank, the country was freer from
violent and sudden extremes of contraction and expansion than
it has ever been since that time. S Why willnot a fair reasoner draw
his conclusions from the entire history of his country as a whole 1
In his late speech from this place, ‘Mr. Wright said he would not look
back to the history of the first Bank of the United States: he said,
that under the second National Bank, there were great evils,---but
did he deny that, taking the whole forty years together, the country

14-

was less liable to fluctuations than it has since been 7: Not at all.

.Well, in the midst of this great expansion of banks and banking capi-
tal came the Specie Circular, whose tendency was to produce, and
which did in fact produce, great and sudden contractions. This vio-
lent action and reaction, superinduced on a previous state of pecu-
niary expansion, is fairly chargeable to the Administration itself, and
is to be traced to the action of the Government, more than to all
other causes. 1

But to return. How does it stand with respect to the States? Under
what patronage, and at whose recommendation, did they contract the
large and onerous debt of two hundred millions of dollars 1 Who
induced this 1 Under what circumstances at home was it done "L
From 1820 to 1825, the aggregate of State Debts amounted to twelve
or thirteen millions. From 1825 to 1830,. it stood at thirteen millions,
—---but during the period from 1830 to 1835, it rose to forty millions.
The effect of the increase of circulationdid not begin fairly to deve-
lope itself in the country till 1834+ and 1835. Thenthe state debts
were augmented to forty millions, and between 1835 and 1840, they
rose to one hundred millions. _ 1 A

It appears from tables supposed to be accurately compiled, that the
amount of stock issued by the several States, for each period of five
years, since 1820, is as follows, viz :-———-

From 1820———-1825 somewhat over 12,000,000.
18E25——~---183O . “ “ 13,000,000.
1830—-—-1835 “ “ 4.«0,000,000.
1835--~184.«0 “ “ 109,000,000.

Of which amount of one hundred and nine millions, nearly the whole
was issued during 1838 and 1836, and part of 1837, that is to say,
in the most palmy time of the-Experiment. r p
. So it appears that these “extravagant” state debts were contracted
when the currency was most redundant: when the States, in common
with all the country, were urged, and goaded, and lashed on to bor-
row: and when allsorts of extravagant hopes and schemes were in-
dulged among the people. To this very redundancy, thus caused by
the government itself, in the vast multiplication of banks, and the
free extension of loans, are to be traced these rash engagements
of the States, for which they have been reviled in all quarters, from
the head of the Government down to its lowest agency. There were
one hundred millions of debts created in 1835 and 1836, in the very
midst of the glowand flow of the deposit system. It was in these
verpyy years, distinguished, as the Administration say, for prudence
andptpublic prosperity, that the creation of the State debts liept ‘pace
with thebank creation and accornmodation. The bank creation and
accorpgnodationplcept. pace with the govetrnmenttexpperiment, and the

0 egoverpnmentpepxpreriment pliept pace with themost rapid delusion

15

which ever characterized any administration upon earth, or ever
carried away an intelligent people. (Loud cheers.)

And now I am on this subject, I must saya word or two on another
topic which it natiurally suggests. One of the charges of the day is,
that the opposition to the Adminitstrationthas come out with a pro-
ject for the assumption of all these Stateydebts by the general gov.

ernment. This charge was broached as a subject of attack: on the '

Whigs in the Senate early in the last session, Let us loolc atlittle
into facts. Iyhave said that the generalgovernment encouraged the
States to contract debts by making the currency plentiful 5 but they
have also done this in another manner. It has been one of the favor-
ite projects of the Administration since the removal of the deposits,
to vest the surplus revenue, and the increased funds of the United
States, in state bonds. I do not say this is an assumption of the state
debts, but I do say, that the general government did encourage the
states to issue bonds, and did endeavor to give them all the credit it
could.

In 1836, the projectwas taken up of distributing the surplus re-
venueamong the states. This was not, indeed, a favorite measure of
the leading men, of the Administration, but was carried rather
against their wishes, In May of that year, it was moved by Mr.
Wright of New York, then, and now a prominent leader of the Ad-
ministration party in the Senate, that this surplus should be vested
i.n State Stocks, and that whenever any further surplus might occur,
it should be vested in the same manner. When the Bill to regulate
the State Banlts was under consideration, and a thirteenth section
was proposed, distributing the 40,000,000 surplus among the States,
Mr. Wright moved to strike out that provision, and to insert in lieu
of it, another clause, vesting the whole of the money in State Bonds.
And again, when the first Sub-Treasury Bill was brought forward,
the same gentleman tacked on it a provision, that the surplus
amounts in the Treasury should he be vestedtin state bonds. And
finally there were other sums, which we held in trust, from
the sale of Indian lands for y the payment of Indian annui-
ties, as well as the Smithsonian Legacy, which were also an-~
thorized to beheld in state bonds. I say, therefore, that so long
as the contraction of those state debts was favorable to the admin-
istration, they tyvqertge the foremost of allmmen infostering state cred»
its, and in encouraging the states to enlarge their liabilities. t For
my associate ,t,Wrightt declared “that he would undertake to

say,that he was not afraid to recommend such an investment of the
national funds, as the States would issue as many bonds as the gov. \

ernment mtg/Lt c/Loose to buy ! F’ (Loud laughterand cheers.) A
 to [At this point of the speech, the wind blowing freshly,  
Webster having spoken uncovered, some voice in the crowd sug-

16

gested that he should put on his ‘hat; but the courteous orator,
glancing his eye towards the windows, which were crowded with la-
dies eagerly listening,‘playfully replie d, “ That I cannot do. Imust
consent to take cold now and then for the good Wof my country.”
The remark was received with laughter and some acclamation.]

But now, after all this, these same gentlemen, over-reaching the
whole intervening period, and going back to the beginning, reproach
and criminate the States from the very outset, for contracting the en-
gagements to which the Government itself incited them. I do not
say that this was an assumption of the State debts, but it certainly
was holding them up to Europe and the world as worthy of confi-
dence, so long as it suited the purposes of the Administration so to
do. And very pretty purposes it would have answered in view of
the coming election, had they succeeded in their object, and the See»
cretary of the Treasury been vested with unlimited discretion to
purchase state bonds at his pleasure. Suppose such a power now
existed, and Mr. Woodbury, conscientious and scrupulous as he is
known to be, (loud laughter and shouts) was asked by us of Massa~
chusetts, for instance, or had lately been asked by our good sister of
Maine (laughter) to vest money in state bonds: how do you think
the money would have been applied ? No doubt, it would have been
given freely to the _79az‘7'2'oz‘z'c states, but as carefully withheld from
those not deemed worthy of that title. ,

For this declaration, that the Whigs in Congress are in favor of

the assumption of the state debts by the General Government, there A

exists not one particle of proof, nor the least possible foundation. I
do not myself know a single man in Congress, who holds the opi—
nion that the general government has any more right to pay the
debts of a state, than it has to pay the debts of a private individual.
Congress might as well undertake to pay the debts of John Jacob
Astor, as of the state of New-York. ‘I exempt, however, from these

remarks, the distribution among the states of the proceeds of I the a

public lands, and their application toipay the debts of the states,
should the states choose so to apply the money. But I say there is
no foundation whatever for such a plan of assumption as Mr. Ben-
ton and Mr. Grundy have so zealously declaimed against in the U. S.
Senate.

You have all heard in the public papers, (and it is one of the most
despicable of all the inventions of the enemy) that transactions
took place, in which I had a part, the object of which was to
persuade- Congress to assume the state obligations, and that I went
to England for the worthy purpose of furthering such a design.
(Laughter and shouting.) Now, as I am among you this day, as
among my friends, I will tell you all about it. ‘ I left this country in
Mayy, 1839. At that time I had neither read nor heard from living

17

man of any such design. lwent to England, and I must be per.-
mitted to say, that it was a most gloomy time, so far as American
securities in general, and the state debts in particular, were concern-
ed. But, I declare to you on my honor, that no European banker or
foreign holder of state securities ever suggested to me, in the remot-
est manner, the least notion of the assumption of the state debts by
the General Government. Once, indeed, I did hear the idea started by
an American citizen, but I immediately told him that such a thing was
wholly unconstitutional, and never could be effected, unless the people
should adopt a new constitution. It was quite natural that I should
be applied to in reference to the state debts. The state to which Ibe-
long had sent out some stock to England to be sold, and so, I believe,
had the state of New-York. We heard, continually, the most gloomy
accounts from the United States, and, in fact, this very thing was, to
use a common expression, a. great damper to my enjoyment while
abroad. People frequently applied to me to know what security there
was, that the American debts would be finally paid, and the interest, in
the mean time, regularly discharged. Itold them they might rely on
the plighted faith of the states, and their ability to redeem their ob-
ligations. Nobody asked me whether there could be a U. S. guar-
anty to that effect, nor did I suggest such an idea to any one. Gen-
tlemen came to me to ask about the Massachusetts Bonds. They
liked the offer of five per cent. interest very much, as this was high
for an English capitalist, but they wanted to know what assurance I
could give that the investment would be a safe one. I went to my
trunk and took. out an abstract of the oflicial return of the amount of

the productive labor of Massachusetts. I put this into the hand of ,

one of those inquirers, and told him to take it home and study it.
He did so, and in two days returned, and invested forty thousand
pounds sterling in Massachusetts stock. (Cl1eers.) Others came and
made similar inquiries as to New-York securities. Igave them a
copy of the very able and admirable Report made by your towns»
man, Mr. Ruggles, in 1838, and they came back satisfied. But to
none did I suggest, or in the remotest manner hint, that they could
look to the United States to secure the debt. I endeavored to up-
hold the credit of all the states. I remembered that they were all
my countrymen, and I stated facts in relation to each, as favorably
as truth would allow. And what happened then’! Gentlemen, it is
fit that you should know, that there exists a certain aligned, in Lon-
don, who are animated by an unextinguishable hate of American credit.
You may set it down as a fact that it is their daily, their incessant,
vocation, to endeavor to impair the credit of every one of the states,
and to represent the purchase of their bonds as an unwise and dan-
gerous investment of money. On this subject their ferocity knows

‘ no mitigation : it is deaf to all justice, and~proof against all reason

3

18’

The more you show them it is wrong, the more tenacity of purpose
do they exhibit. That -part of the public press over which they have
control is furnished, I am ashamed to say, with matter drawn from
publications which originated in this city, and the object of which is
to prove, that state bonds are so much waste paper, the state having
no right to issue any such obligations, their holders being,'there-
fore, utterly destitute of any security. And these miserable. and
contemptible speculations are put into the papers of the largest eir-
culation in Europe, and enforced by all the aid they can derive from
editorial sanction. It was unde r circumstances like these that a

. large Banking House in London put to me as a Lawyer, the profes-

sional question, whether the States were empowered to issue evi-
dences of debt payable by the state. I answered that, for this purpose,
they were as completely sovereign as any State in Europe; that they
had a Public Faith to pledge, and did pledge it. This entire corres-
pondence was published-——-(though you might as well get any Admi.
nistration Editor ‘in this country to take hold of a pair of hot tongs
as to insert it in his columns)---—in the face of those who have been
shouting in all quarters, that I had a personal agency in bringing
about an assumption of state debts by the General Government.

It so happened, that in the latter part of October, the house of Ba-
rings issued a Circular to foreign houses on this subject, which Cir-
cularllnever saw till I arrived in America. In this paper they speak
of such an assumption or guaranty,but as it went to foreign houses,
I never saw, nor did I hear of it till last December, when I heard at
the same time of the proceedings of Mr. Benton. Butl here wish
again to repeat, that during the whole time I was in Europe, no
English banker or foreign bond--holder ever suggested an idea of
such an assumption. The first I heard of it was from an American
citizen there, and not again till my return to this country.
I have said, that owing to the bad news which was constantly
received from this country, the pleasure of my visit was much
‘diminished. I will now say, that during the whole time of my
absence, I hadthe lowest hopes, as to the political state of the coun-
try, which I ever indulged. I saw the fatal workings of the expe-ri~
ment, and I saw that nothing wiser or better was in the mind of the
Administration. And though I knew that a vast majority of my
countrymen were opposed to the existing policy, yet I did not see

‘them sufficiently roused, nor had I confidence that they would ever
“come to that cordial union in relation to any one candidate for the

Presidency, which would enable them, as a party, to take the field
with any rational hope of success. (cheers), , p I I ,

Such were the gloomy feelings which possessed my mind, when I
first learned the result of the Harrisburgh Convention. I V (Shouts and

‘ cheers.) But, when I saw a nomination which, though unwelcome at

19

first to many, I thought the best that could possibly have been made,
and learned that it was fast gaining the approbation of all who thought
with me 5, and above all, when [beheld the warm enthusiasm and the
heartfelt union which soon animated their ranks, and concentrated
their movements, I then began to entertain a confidence that the hour
of deliverance was at hand, and that my long-suffering country would
yet relieve herself from the disastrous condition to which she had
been reduced. (Loud and long cheering.)

After a brief pause, Mr. Webster said, I hope, gentlemen, you will
not be alarmed, if I take from my notes one more paper, (loud cries
of “ go on”-—“ go on” “ we can hear you an hour yet”--“ speak on till
sun-down,”) I will detain you but a few moments in briefly express-
ing the opinions I entertain in regard to the Sub—Treasury. It ap-
pears to me to be a scheme entirely new to our history, and foreign
to our habits, and to be the last of a series of baffled experiments,
into which the representatives of the people have been lashed and
fatigued by the continued exercise of executive power, through four
mortal sessions of Congress. , .

I will say a word or two in relation to the system under the vari-
ous aspectsin which its friends have supported it. What are the
argumentsin its favor 2» The leading argument was that of safety
to the Government. This was a plan to keep the Public money
Where rogues could not run away with it. Now I think there is a
way to prevent that, which would be much more effectual, and that is
not to trust rogues with the keeping of the public money. ,(Laughter.)
But as to the notion of better vaults, and more secure,is it not the most
ridiculous of all humbugs I 1 do not know in which of the bank
vaults around me the Receiver General keeps his funds. If they are
in a vault different from that which belongs to the bank, I will ven-
ture to say it is no better and no safer. It is said, however, that by
this means government is to keepits own money. What, does this
mean’! W110 is that government’! W110 is that individual “ I,”
who -is to keep our money in his own pocket’! Is not government
a mere collection of agencies Z is not every dollar it possesses in
trust with somebody? It may be put in vaults under a key, but
the key is given to somebody to keep. Government is not a person
with pockets. , ,_

The only question is, whether’ the government agents under the
sub.treasury are any safer than iihe government agents before it was
adoptedl Mr. Wright, indeed, has assured us, that theagents under
the sub-treasury are maderesponsible to the people.  how’! in
what respect’! The Receiver General gives bonds, but how is he
more responsible on that account than the Collector in another
street, who, like him, receives the public money, and like him givgs
bondsfor its safe keeping’! It is just the same thing. Onwof

20

these officers is just as far from the people, and just as near to the
people, as the other. How then is the Receiver General more di-
rectly responsible 2 There is not a particle of truth or reason in the
whole matter. If the vaults are not better, is the security better '2
I have no manner of doubt that the Receiver General in this city is
a highly respectable man, but where is the proof that the govern.
ment money is any safer in his vault than in the bank where he has
his office’! Suppose Mr. Allen had a private office of his own at a
distance from the bank, and should give the same bonds he now
does, for the safe keeping of all moneys intrusted to him, how many
of you would deposit your private funds in his ofiice, rather than in
a bank having half a million or a million of dollars capital, under the
government of directors whose Own fortunes were deposited in its
vaults’! Try the experiment, and see how many would resort to
Mr. Allen, and how many to the Banks.

So far from being safer, I maintain on the contrary that this Sub-
Treasury scheme jeopards the public money, because it multiplies
the hands through which it is to pass, and thereby multiplies the chan-
ces of corruption, or of loss. Your Collector, Mr. Hoyt, receives the
money on duty bonds. He holds it subject to the draft or order of the
Secretary ofthe Treasury, or else is to pay it over to Mr. Allen. If Mr.
Hoyt were dishonest, might he not have shared the money before
the Receiver General could get at it’! The scheme doubles the
chances of loss by doubling the hands which are to keep the money.

But this scheme is to encourage the circulation of specie! I cer-
tainly shall not detain you on a matter with which you are more fa-
miliar than I am 5 but let me ask you a few questions. By one clause
of the Sub- Treasury Law, one-fourth of all the duties bonded is to be
paid in specie, and the residue according to the resolution of 1816.
Now I want to know one thing : if one of you has a Custom
House Bond to pay, you go to the Collector with a certified check
purporting to be payable in specie, for one-fourth of the amount, and
another check, in common form,for the other three-fourths. Does
not the Collector receive these checks ‘i That is the question lash
you. ‘(Loud cries of “Yes, Yes--—-he does---he does”) Well,
then is not allthat part of the law, which requires the payment of
one-fourth in specie a mere sham I (Cries of “ Yes,” “Yes,”
“ Sham !” “Sham T!” “ Humbug l”) If you go to him with a draft,
and demand specie, he will no doubt give it to you if you request
it, but if not, he gives you good notes. Where then is all this
irnarching and countermarching of specie, which was to glad-
den our eyes’! ls it not all humbug’! (Loud cheers and shouting.)
What, ‘doesthe Collector do with the money when he gets it’! Does
he not deposit it in a bank of a very unsavory name 1 A I do not cer-
tainly know, but I believe he deposits it in the Bank of the United

21

States. He afterwards pays ittoverrto the Receiver General, and
gives him all the specie he wants 5 and yet, after all, there is no
general use of specie in the matter.

They speak about a divorce between bank and state; and what
does it amount to’! I ask you, is not the great amount of -Govern--
ment funds at this moment in safe keeping in some bank’! I believe
it is. Then there is no separation. The Government gives the
money to individuals to keep, and they, like sensible men, putit into
bank. Is this separation? If any change is made in the connection

it is to render it more close, and like other illicit connections, the

cl-oser it is, the more secret it is kept. a

It is called the “ Independent Treasury,” and some of its friends
have called it “a second declaration of independence.” Indepen-
dence! hovvl of what’! It is dependent on individuals, who imme-
diately go to the bank 5 and is it to be tolerated that there should
be this outcry about the use of specie, when here, you, in the heart
of the commercial community, see and know that there is no such
thing ‘.3’

But though at present this is all sham, yet that power to demand
specie, which the Law contains, when its requirements shall cover
the whole revenue of the government, and when that revenue shall
be large, "may, in its exercise, becomea most dangerous instru-
ment. When government shall have, in the banks of this city, twelve
to fifteen millions of dollars on deposit, as it has had, it will be
in the power of the government to break. down at its pleasure one, if
not all of these institutions. And when you go to the West, where
the money is received for the Public Lands, every specie paying
bank in the country may, at the mere pleasure of the government, be
compelled to shut up its doors.——--But this Independent Treasury is to
be independent of the banks 1 Well, if the Sub-Treasury Law is to be
called the second Declaration of Independence, then there is athird
Declaration of I ndependence, and that is the Treasury Note law. How
marvellously free does that make us of banks! Wliile two millions
of these notes bearing interest are deposited there,-—-and there,---—
and there,—~in all these banks around me! Deposited’! How de-
posited’! They are sold-»---and how sold? They’ are deposited in
these banks carrying interest, while the bank gives the government
authority to dravvtfor money as it shall need. Now I say the bank
may make, not a very unreasonable, but a very reasonable amount
by the interest in these notes, before it is called on to pay out
any of its own money. One of these accounts between bank and
Government was examined by a friend of mine: It had not my-
self time to look at it. The bank received Trerasury notes bear-
ing interest: it passed these to the credit of Government, at the

nominalamount: the Government was then to draw for money as

. I suppose he lrnowsthat was all a sham.

4)

Av

‘:2’;

it wanted it; and, on that single transaction, the bank realized be-
tween eighty and a hundred thousand dollars in interest. Now this
is what I call a third Declaration of Independence! (Laughter and
cheers.) You know by the Secretary’s Report, that the Govern-
ment has already issued nearly the whole of the five millions au.
thorized by Congress. Two millions lie in the banks drawing in.
terest, the banks paying Government drafts as they come in. And
this issetting up for independence of the banks ! .

Again, the fashion now is, since Mr. Calhoun has forced the
Administration to insert in the Law the specie clause, for Gov-
ernment to discredit the use of bank paper whenever it can. That
is thegeneral tone of the government communications. They avow
such to be their object, and I believe them. But who can tell the
consequence of discrediting bank: paper, if our revenues should ever
again become what they have been in times past? It is a power
by which government can break the solvent banks, but can never
make the insolvent return to their duty. ,

But then it is said, all this cannot be any great matter, because Mr.
Wright tells us, that in ordinary times, five millions of dollars will
perform all the operations of receipt and expenditure. Now, that
proposition depends upon Mr. Wright’s estimate of what the expen-
diture will be. Does he expect to reduce it to the standard of Mr.
Adarns’s administration, once denounced as so extravagant? Does
he expect to reduce the thirty-nine millions to thirteen millions? or
will he go below that”! He does not tell us. ‘For my own part, I
believe, five, or five and a half millions would be a moiety of the
average amount of specie in all the banks in the city. You can
judge for yourselves what must be the effect of tvithdrawing one
half of all the specie in these banks, and of locking it up in the Sub-
Treasury vaults.

A But how does all this stand with Mr. Wright’s main argument?
He says that the great object to be effected by the Sub-Treasury
law, is to prevent fluctuations by preventing the banks from dis.
counting“ upon the public money; but if five millions of dollars
only are needed for the ordinary treasury operations, can such a
sum as this have produced all the fluctuations in the commercial
community’! Surely not. In his printed speech he says, that the
chief practical, difference produced by the law is, that the money is
now kept by Mr. Allen, which used to A be kept by the Bank of
America. But is that all’! What, then, becomes of the specie clause’!

Gentlemen, l willnot detain you longer on theypractical operation

of thissub-treasuryi scheme. So far as relates to the receipts and

disbursementrs of the public treasure, you know better thpanll. A
great part of these operations take place in your own city. But per»

mit me now to [go for a moment into the political objection to this

Q3,

sub-treasury scheme: I mean  utter omission cf all concern with
the general currency of the country. This objection is cardinal and
decisive. It is this which has roused the country, and which is to
decide the fate of the present Administration. But the question is
so general, it has so long been before the country, and so frequently
discussed in all quarters, that I will not further extend my remarks
in regard to it. I believe that the mind of the people is now
thoroughly awakened, and that the day rapidly approaches when
their final judgment will be pronounced. ,

There is yet one topic on which I must detain you for only a mo-

ment, and I will then relieve you. We have the good fortune, under
the blessing of a benign Providence, to live in a country which
we are proud of for many things-——for its independence, for its pub—
lic liberty, for its free institutions, for its public spirit, for its en-
lightened patriotism ; but we are proud also—--and it is among those
things We should be the most proud of,—--We are proud of its public
justice, of its sound faith, of its substantially correct morals in the
administration of the government, and the general conduct of the
country, since she took her place among the nations of the World.
But among the events which most threaten our character and stand-
ing, and which so grossly attach on these moral principles that have
hitherto distinguished us, are certain sentiments which have been
broached among us, and i am sorry to say, have more supporters than
they ought, because they strike at the very foundation of the
social system. I do not speak especially of those which have
been promulgated by some person in my own State, but of others
which go yet deeper into our political condition. I refer to
the doctrine that one generation of men acting under the Constitu-
tion, cannot bind another generation who are to be their successors ;
on whichiground it is held, among other things,.that.state bonds
are not obligatory. What’! one generation cannot bind another’!
Where is the line of separation’! It changes hourly. The Ame-
rican community to-day is not the same with the American commu-
nity to-morrovv. The community in which I began this day to ad-
dress you, is not the same as it is at this moment.

How abhorrent is such a doctrine to those great truths, which
teach us that though individualsflourish and decay, states are im-
mortal; that political communities are ever young, ever green, ever
flourishing, ever identical. The individuals who compose them may
change, as the atoms of our bodies change, but the political com-
munity still exists in its aggregate capacity, as do our bodies in their
natural; with this only difference, that we know that our natural
frames must soon dissolve, and return to their original dust 3 but, for
ourcountry, she yet lives-——-she ever dwells on our hearts, and it
will even at that solemn moment, go up as our last aspiration to
Heaven, that she may be immortal.

OFFICERS OF THE MEE'I‘INGc..

The foregoing Speech was made at a Meeting, held in pursuance
of a call, of “the Merchants and Traders of the city of New York,
who disapprove of the leading measures of the Administration, and
are opposed to the re-election of Martin Van Buren, and in favor of
the election of Harrison and Tyler,” in front of" the Merchants’ Ex-
change, Wall street, on Monday, September 28, 1840. The follow.
ing gentlemen, on nomination of Wm. W. Todd, were appointed oflia
cers of the meeting. J J ,

President,
JONATHAN GOODHUE.

Vice Presidents,

Benjamin Strong,
James Brown,

A J ‘Edward G. Faile,

David Lee, ,
Jonathan Sttirgee,
Stephen Whitney,
James Gr.iKing,

a John I-Iaggerty,
G. P. Disosway,

J I Charles H. Russeli,

‘John W.“Ha:rris, ,
John D. Wolfe,

a John Rathbone, Jr.

  Aspinwall, ‘
  #iugustinAveri1l,

William Scott,  
Hugh Auchincloss,

it James J. ‘Van Alen,

D. A. Cushman,
Thomas Brooks,

‘ D. W. C. Olyphant,‘

‘John P. Stagg,

John A. Underwood,

  Henry K. Bogert,

R.  Nevins,

Peter I. Nevins, W
John Van Nostrand,
Abraham Fairdon. J J

_ Sec7'eL‘am'es,
Thomas Williams, J12,‘

John Steward, Jr., ,

J E. P. Heyer.

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